the blonde riddle
by Dubhshlaine d'Aubigny
Summary: A secret has had 9 months to gestate, and now the newborn girl is alone and in need of immense protection. Her mother has passed, and her father, well... But a sense of normality must be maintained, for her sake, no matter how strange it gets.
1. Chapter 1

The blonde Riddle

The blonde Riddle

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything that is trademarked that stems from it.

This is my story about a secret child, hidden from the world. Oooooo….

My first Harry Fan fic.

Dubhshlaine

The old woman stood on the corner, waiting in the darkness. She wrung her hands, almost paralyzed by worry. When she heard the loud Pop behind her, she felt a bit of relief.

"Well, what happened?" she asked the man with the scruffy ginger hair.

"I don't know, Minerva, Dumbledore sent me here, too." Moody was living up to his name, yet again. Minerva McGonagall thought to ask something, but thought also of the snappy retort that she would receive in return. They both stood there in silence, and then the street lights started to go off, one by one. Albus Dumbledore apparated right in front of them, holding a small bundle in his arms.

"Oh goodness, Albus! How is Sylvia?" Minerva asked, her brow wrinkling even deeper.

"I'm afraid the mother didn't make it. She passed right after she saw it." Moody raised his eyebrows:

"Well, what is it?" he growled. Dumbledore smiled and showed them the small face in the bundle.

"It's a girl."

The news didn't lift the looks of worry from their faces.

"Albus, are you sure that none of this could have been found out?" Minerva asked, still wringing her hands in agony.

"I'm as sure as I can be, Minerva." Moody looked from one to the other.

"How can you two stand there chatting about it?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Her," Dumbledore corrected. "I wonder if I could ask you to look after her until we can find her a suitable home, Minerva," Dumbledore said, almost sounding like he was begging. Minerva almost frowned.

"Of course, anything to help." She took the baby and stared at its tiny, just born face as it slept peacefully.

"I will come to collect her in a few days. Thank you, Minerva." Dumbledore disapparated and the streetlights came back on.

"I'll accompany you home, to make sure you're not followed," Moody said, looking at the uncovered head in the bundle. He would never forget the way its white-blonde hair glistened silver in the streetlight.

When her eyes opened for the first time, they were all relived to see a sparkling blue, but when they looked closer, they noticed the tiny streaks of red that marked her as _his_ child. Most of the Order was gathered in Minerva's comfortable living room. They all sat in silence. Sirius felt very uncomfortable.

He took a deep breath and said, "Well, what are we going to call her?" A few of them laughed at the forced enthusiasm in his tone.

"Well?" he asked, more pressingly.

"Something to shake her of _his_ mark," Minerva said, startling a few by the suddenness of her comment. They nodded in agreement.

"Something simple," Fabian said, almost looking through his brother.

"How about Tulip?" Dorcas suggested, but Moody shook his head. "Well, then, you come up with something!" she snapped, stung.

"It's a pity Lily couldn't come. She would've known the second she came here," Remus said. "Have you seen their little boy? They've named him Harry, you know," he continued, and smiled as he remembered the boy's large green eyes.

"Trixie isn't so bad," someone said under their voice. Sirius' face flushed.

"What? And have her named after my insane cousin?" he scoffed. "I'd hang myself. Twice." They sat in silence again, Sirius muttering to himself.

"Annwyn," Hagrid said, grinning under his forest of a beard. A few murmured in agreement. "Excellent, Annwyn it is," Dumbledore said, clapping his hands. "Annwyn Malfoy." When he said it, all of them cringed.

"Malfoy," Moody drawled. "Yes, Malfoy."

Dumbledore smiled. "She will have to be with her family. That's what Sylvia would have wanted."

"But the whole lot of 'em are Death Eaters! They'll turn 'er into one o' them!" Hagrid shouted. A small cry erupted from behind the half closed door.

"Look what you've done, Hagrid." The child proceeded to wail painfully, and it subsided slowly when a warm bottle of milk was fed to her.

"She must know her people. None of us can deny her that," Dumbledore said with a grave expression. "But I suggest she stay with one of us for the time being." They looked at each other, waiting for one of them to offer their services. Dumbledore's expression was jolly when he continued:

"I think Severus could look after her until we can sort all the arrangements out." All the members of the order where shocked.

"_Snape? Severus Snape? _I wouldn't trust him to look after my dead dog!" Sirius shouted. "In case you didn't know, Dumbledore, Snape," he spat the name ferociously, "is a Death Eater!" Dumbledore looked at him over his half-moon spectacles.

"I am sure that he is no longer a Death Eater. I trust Severus." He turned to Minerva and took the now quiet baby from her. "She'll be perfectly fine. He is a very talented wizard." Someone choked on their drink.

"Well, if you want her first words to be an unforgivable curse, then send her off to Snape." Dumbledore smiled. "Then, can any of you take her, because Minerva needs the rest. The school year will be starting soon and we still have some preparations to complete." None of them could offer their services; they were all too busy trying to stay alive, keeping Death Eaters away from _their_ families.

"Well, that's settled. Annwyn will stay with Severus." He took a blanket and wrapped her snugly in it. "When we've all finalized our rotations, I'll call another meeting." And with that, he disapparated, leaving them all in an uncomfortable silence.

"_Snape!_" Sirius snorted. "The child would've been better off with muggles."

Dumbledore apparated onto a lush, grassy hill, holding the bundle not too tightly as the baby slept. Snape was waiting for him already, nervous and clutching at his arm.

"I suppose that they didn't give her over too eagerly," he said, not disguising the cynicism in his voice.

"No need to worry about that, Severus. Are you sure that you can keep her away from anybody?" Dumbledore asked, knowing the answer to the question.

"Yes," Snape said, taking the bundle. "She'll be safe." Dumbledore smiled as he watched Snape's black robes fluttering in the wind, mingled with a white blanket.


	2. Chapter 2

The story may later be written out of sequence, but for some reason, it still makes sense.

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A seven-year-old, white-blond haired girl stared out of the window.

"Annwyn, I need you to concentrate," Minerva said, glaring at the little girl. It was warm outside and she had wanted to play.

"But I want to go outside. It's summer!" she wailed.

"Alright then, but do it once more," Minerva prompted, pointing to the glass. Annwyn held Minerva's wand with a firm, practiced grip. She took a deep breath and the glass turned into a tennis ball.

"Wonderful," Minerva said, bouncing the perfectly fuzzy ball once on the ground. Annwyn ran to the door, but turned before she crossed the threshold.

"When am I going to Severus's?" she asked Minerva. The ball fell and rolled into a corner.

"Soon enough, dear. Soon enough."

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"You can never catch me! I told you, girls can't run!" Draco taunted over his shoulder as he was fleeing from his cousin.

"Why don't you just give up? You can't hope to…" Annwyn leapt and pushed him down. Draco's chin thudded on the floor. He had bit down on the inside of his cheek, and it was bleeding.

"Draco, are you hurt?" she asked, almost frightened. He nodded as his eyes began to water.

"Come on," she said, leading him to her aunt and uncle's bedroom. "Where does she put it again?" she said, half to herself. Draco pointed to the dresser, where Narcissa's wand lay. She took it and pointed it to Draco's face and his eyes grew wide. He shook his head wildly.

"It's alright," she assured him, "I've seen lots of people do this before. _Episkey_," she said and Draco's mouth felt warm. He felt his cheek with his finger.

"It doesn't hurt anymore, does it?" Draco still couldn't believe that his cousin, same age as he was, could perform spells.

"How did you do that?" he demanded. "Well, I can't run, but I can do magic," she taunted, as he had earlier. "Show me," he glared at her angrily.

"No," she said curtly.

"Well then give me my mother's wand back," he ordered, pointing malevolently.

She shook her head, her white-blond hair filling her face. Draco, enraged that she wasn't complying with his demands, flew at her, trying to forcefully take the wand from her firm grasp. They wrestled and turned, elbowing each other in the stomach. Annwyn's head collide with Draco's, and she yelped. A blue stream of light erupted from the wand, hitting the drapes, setting them alight. The wand fell to the floor, and Lucius strode into the room.

"What are you two doing in…?" He turned to the drapes and flourished his wand, putting the fire out with a stream of water. He turned to the bewildered children, and saw the wand lying on the floor.

"Who did this?" he asked calmly, looking from one child to the other. Annwyn slowly put her hands behind her back.

"Annwyn, did you do this?" he asked, tilting her face till their eyes met. She started to cry.

"I didn't mean to," she sobbed. "We both had the wand, and Draco hit me with his head, and then there was the fire," she choked, and she shut her eyes, ashamed of her tears.

Lucius tutted, but then he picked her up, and rocked her gently, whispering, "It's alright, it was an accident, wasn't it?" Draco stood agape. He was expecting her to be yelled at, not comforted! He was about to say something when his father shot him a glance.

"Go to your room, Draco. I'll come and talk to you later." Draco stormed out of the room, his face blushing brightly.


End file.
